Ahead of the second round of election in Turkey, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the presidential candidate of the Nation’s Alliance, has accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of obstructing his election campaign.
The opposition candidate took to Twitter and called Erdogan a “coward” and added that he is “completely under blackout.”
“Constant slander, lies, conspiracies, irregularities at the ballot boxes, efforts to ban observers, manipulated videos… And now, [telecommunication companies] are even blocking our ability to send a short message to announce our program to journalists,” he alleged
Addressing Turkish President Erdogan, Kilicdaroglu said, “Should I not participate in the election? Is this what you want? Elections cannot be held in Turkey.”
“This man is a coward, a coward who is causing the country to decline. We are reaching a point where elections cannot be held. What do you want from this country? Coward.”
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Earlier, Kilicdaroglu had alleged that the dissemination of a text message his campaign meant to be sent to prospective voters was obstructed.
Kilicdaroglu’s accusations come ahead of the runoff vote between Erdogan sand Nation’s Alliance leader on Sunday.
Erdogan Vs Kilicdaroglu: Who stands where?
In the first round of voting on May 14, Erdogan got 49.5 per cent support, falling just short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff.
Kilicdaroglu, the candidate of a six-party opposition alliance, received 44.9 per cent support. Nationalist candidate Sinan Ogan came third with 5.2% support and was eliminated. Ogan subsequently threw his weight behind Erdogan and supported his re-election bid.
However, his rival believes the margin could still be bridged, either by eliminated candidate Ogan’s 2.8 million supporters or by the eight million voters who did not turn out in the first round.
At present, Erdogan seems confident of his win. He is reported to be focusing his previous successes, and his election campaign has emphasised on continuity.
On Sunday, it will be the first time Turkish voters would go to vote for a second time to select their next president.
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